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Here are some newbie mistakes I have made in the past year of monitor husbandry:

1. Moved my baby Malayan water into too large of an enclosure too soon. He freaked, went from a curious friendly little guy into a frantic miserable little guy.

2. Temporarily moved a juv ornate in with the freaked out water (20” by that time - just about when he started calming down). This sent my water over the edge man; I thought I may have sent him into psychological never never land. I ended up moving him back into a small enclosure and covering the whole thing with a towel. Over the next few weeks I left him entirely alone except to feed him and slowly uncovered him. He responded well, ending up back to his old self…climbing out onto my head while I cleaned his cage, etc.

3. Built an outside enclosure for my Malayan water and black roughneck so they could enjoy the MI summer and be in a larger enclosure (getting big man). THIS WAS DUMB. Outside is just too hard to control, MI weather too unpredictable. Next thing you know I am hanging heat lamps, devising different ways to cover the thing with a tarp, etc. It was a mess; I had to bring them back in after three weeks of trying to figure it out. I think outside enclosures are for more experienced keepers probably in a much more stable weather environment. But now I do have this large empty cage my wife is thrilled to have sitting in my backyard.

4. I tried to force handle my BT. This guy is seriously not interested in interaction with anything, especially anything human. He has broken the skin just with his tail whip before. Impressively hateful is a good description. Anyway, I went a few steps backwards by force handling him (from hateful to insanely hateful), not sure what I was thinking there. I don’t think he will ever be interested in interacting with me beyond angrily snatching rats from my tongs. That’s cool, though when he is full grown this dude is going to be interesting. He is on display at my buddy’s pet store and provides a good example for those interested in a monitor (“are you sure you are ready for that?”). He doesn’t seem to mind being on display, he’ll partially hide often but is not shy about basking or getting up the glass and tail whipping right at kid’s face level (KABLAAAAM followed by a kid screaming).

5. Put that black roughneck and Malayan water in with a juv speckled water. Though the size difference isn’t huge at their age, the speckled has just been dominated. He has some scale damage from bites, though nothing permanent. The biggest problem is ensuring he gets enough food…the other two will rip his head off to get at the mouse he is trying to swallow haha. Also I worry about proper temp ranges for him, he spends most of his time buried, far away from the other two. Maybe that is what he wants, or maybe he is stressed and really wants to bask / thermo-reg more. Anyway, not well thought out on my part.

So there are some of the bigger / more glaring mistakes I have made. Many more to come, but maybe someone will learn from these and not make them. I’ll try to share some of my more stupid moments as I progress.

Cheers!

Tom

This post is a nice approach Tom, really.

If I may, keeping monitors(more so then many other types of reptiles) is all about making decisions. In that, your doing great, your making them. Of course you are making some bad ones. hahahahahahahahaha which by the way is part and partial of the game of keeping monitors. Whoops, lets try that again.

What comes to mind when I read your post is funny. Your mistakes appear to be from being prejudiced. You already have a preconcieved line of thought or PLAN, your trying to make your monitors follow.

This is what I think is the problem with people not doing well with monitors. They keep trying to lead them. Its not the little wrong decisions that are a problem. Its the thought that you think you know what direction they should go. Particularly, when you have no evidence or reason to know.

You know how people say this and that about my methods. I often get confused at that. As I do not have a method. Only one thing sticks out. I have learned to follow and not lead. ALL my other things stem from that. The lites, the boards, the substrate, etc.

Your leading. All I do is follow their lead. I try not to think, or rationalize, or preconcieve, or plan, I simply follow.

Yet, people think I am egotistical, because of all my success. Hmmmmmmmmmmm an egotistical follower, hahahahahahaha sounds funny.

Try following, and you will not make so many newbie mistakes. Althought following will cause you to make expert mistakes. Cheers

Man that’s a great point, I never thought about it that way. Well, you have mentioned just that many many times in several different ways, but I have a listening problem (ask the wife). Follow rather than lead…hmmm, good mantra. Hard to make that switch for me, I don’t know why.

Instead of ‘keep it simple stupid’, I tend to get ‘stuck on stupid’ and hang out there for a while (sometimes decades hahahah). Honestly Frank I am baffled as to why monitor husbandry seems to elude me when all the answers are right there in front of my face (usually staring back at me wanting food hahaha).

Ok I have to build a new enclosure for my waters shortly (INSIDE) so I am going to really try to let them lead me to its proper design, content and layout. Hmmmm, my manufacturing side tells me to first specifically identify my own parameters / limitations (space, money, wife, etc), and let the monitors decide the rest. I am sure this will also lead me to another ‘newbie mistakes’ post hahahha, but good direction and good fun nonetheless. Thanks man –

Tom

My idea of the perfect cage, a box with a big door for getting stuff in and out. With room for deep substrate of various kinds. Waterproof, not resistant, but proof. Lots of options for placing lites where needed. Adjustable venting would be nice. Of course on wheels and being mobile is good.

The reason that is the perfect cage is. I can change it to meet the needs of whats in it. Then I can change it again and again, AS I LEARN. And as the animal grows, yes, their needs change as they age. Kinda like all other animals. Cheers